When Elements React
by Milksake1
Summary: The biggest encounter was months after their graduation, though, when Abbey made the hard decision to continue schooling in Salem- as well as moving in with her elemental lover. Abbey/Heath, language and sex references.
1. Freedom

Managing to keep a relationship through high school was a pain in general, but it was worse between Abbey Bominable and Heath Burns. Exact opposites, the two had faced many an encounter through their times together, from Abbey slamming the window on Heath for throwing rocks at it (at the Bloodgood estate) in the middle of the night, to Heath having to adjust to his weekly accidental freezing. The biggest encounter was months after their graduation, though, when Abbey made the hard decision to continue schooling in Salem- as well as moving in with her elemental lover.

The decision had been met with varying levels of shock, especially considering their paticulars. Abbey's furniture had always mostly been made of the same crystal she wore on her neck, while Heath had to have his room (and his books, and his dinnerware, and his shower) fireproofed just for safety. The most supportive was Abbey's dad, by far, who gave her his blessing though he added a sly comment to the end about how she should 'fear the change in heat', something Abbey understood in general but not entirley. The best news about the move was the fact they could split the rent, though. Both of them (luckily enough) had managed sports' scholarships, Heath's covering his schooling entirley, and Abbey needing the aide of a secondary scholarship for transfer monsters to complete it.

The planning was flawless, though. Not only did they get to be together, experiencing life by eachother's side, but they'd have their own haven. Anything they liked could be hung on the walls, and anyone they wanted could be invited over, within reason. Abbey had quickly put a house-wide ban on Manny unless he conformed to wearing horn-gaurds, and likewise, Heath put a firm ban on any of Cleo's servants if only becuase they weirded him out.

None the less, the young couple reveled in their freedom while they had the time to. They'd even managed to work out a way to sleep in the same bed, through the clever use of a half-crystal, half fire-blanket contraption which just barely worked though they dealt with the slight problems and remained content, if only for the fact that it was the choice to do so.

Heath first noticed a problem, though, when Abbey suddenly stopped wearing her favorite perfume (aptly titled Eau de Yak). when he confronted her about it, she shrugged and replied, "Smell strong, makes stomach sick."

When their game night came up, everyone meeting in two groups to play, Heath pulled Ghoulia aside for a mintue to ask what she thoughts, but Ghoulia even seemed uninterested, suggesting it was the adjustment to the multiple tempratures as Abbey froze six of the board pieces together after throwing Clawdeen into the pit of scargoyles. Heath shook his head, unsatisfied, as Manny proudly annoucned how he was going to crush every monster in the house as he wore bright pink, lace adorned pillows on the tips of his horns.

As time went on, Heath noticed things getting stranger, though. For the first time, he witnessed her eating something that was less than frozen, and at one point during the first few weeks, she even took something off of his plate and swallowed it- despite his natural inclination to spicy foods and her preferance of the cold. By far the strangest thing he witnessed was during the fifth week of their stay, movie night.

The movie for the night was Moonstruck, a love square involving werewolves, because Heath thought a cheesy romance movie would be fun, and it was! The only hitch in the fun was when near the end, Abbey pulled her knees to her chest and started crying, something that startled Heath immensley. Though he didn't touch her (for the fear of being frozen), he leaned over with concern, asking what was wrong.

"Not know," she managed, between tears. "Happy endings not usually so sad."

Heath decided against commenting that it was a movie they'd both watched before, during high school, instead sighing and pulling the blanket from the back of the couch and wrapping it around her so he could give her a hug and suggest she go to sleep. Abbey nodded slightly (in turn, not commenting that Heath had been oddly tactful in this situation) before heading to bed.

After she left, Heath freaked out.


	2. Fear

Upon her waking hours, Abbey immediatley realized there was a problem. She shouldn't have been crying over that movie. She hadn't even changed for bed, which she noticed made her face feel disguisting. Groggily, she dragged herself to the bathroom, washing her face before dragging herself to the kitchen.

The first thing that caught her eye was the bright orange note on her side of the fridge, which she had to squint to read despite her vision being wonderful.

"Went to help o/ Deuce! Love u, stay scary cute 3

~Heath"

The yeti woman scoffed, mildly annoyed that he wasn't there with her, though she ignored it in favor of eating. She didn't know why she felt so hungry, but she was, slightly above her regular large appetite. Looking through the fridg e, she took her pick of yak meat, yak milk, and unidentified vegetables to hastily cook for breakfast. Despite her being aware the cooking was below her usual skill, it was no problem clearly, as Abbey re-froze and ate the food anyway.

Ten minutes later, as she had decided to sit down and study her history work for errors, nausea became apparent. She didn't feel as though she were sick, but as though there was a pressure on her stomach, which was distracting if anything else. Slightly worried that she was coming down with a cold, despite having such a strong immune system, she was thankful she knew just the person to ask. The resident genius, Ghoulia.

Slamming the book, an action that gave her far more pleasure than usual, Abbey stood and dug on the pillows of her bed for her iCoffin, unlocking it quickly. The face of her and Heath at a snow tournament during their screamor year faced her for a moment before her sharp nails pulled up the call screen and found the number. Her chest heaved with a sigh as Ghoulia picked up halfway through the fifth ring.

"Ghoulia," she started off. "I am sickness. Pain in stomach and heart. You know what is, yes?"

Ghoulia's response, moans Abbey could only translate half of, seemed to equate to a request to elaborate. Despite living in such a zombie-filled area, Abbey hadn't learned the language. It wasn't about not liking them, but more that she was aware that her mastery of language wasn't the best, and with English on her plate, she'd never quite had the time to entirley learn another. Thanks to her high-school learnings, she was able to understand them, at least.

"Too sleepy to finish movie and too sick for scent. No fever." She added, as quickly as she could.

The next line (before Ghoulia hung up; Abbey shortly realized she hadn't even asked what Ghoulia had been up to, since she was always so bound on being short in words)was something Abbey understood a lot better.

"Get a pregnancy test."


	3. Waiting

As Abbey made her way to the store, she suddenly felt bad for a lot of ghouls in her situation. Even though it was just a concern, there was this heavy feeling that everyone was watching her. It reminded her of her first day of school. It certainly wasn't a good feeling, by any means. She held her breath and pulled her purse closer to her side as she trekked on through the glass doors.

If walking was hard, actually choosing a test was Herculean. She'd never been aware that there were so many different kinds. Some of them with lines, some with circles, some with colors, some specifically for seamonsters, some for werewolves, some for zombies. . .She wasn't quite sure where she was supposed to fit in. The ice monster resisted her temptation to call up someone who would know better, instead grabbing for one that seemed the least monster-specific and advertised simplicity and heading for the checkout.

Even leaving, she made an effort not to make eye contact with anyone. She didn't hear the voices or sounds of anyone she knew, something she was eternally grateful for, but it still had the same heavy shame. The more she thought over it, the more ridiculous it felt, though. Years had passed since she'd started attending Monster High as an already-mature monster, and now, she was an even more mature monster with more experience and every excuse to be purchasing a pregnancy test so she could take the proper precautions and responsibilities for her possible child.

That reassurance failed entirely to make Abbey feel any more confident, and she still sighed with relief as she shut the door behind her, safely back in the comfort of her apartment with the test clutched in her hand. She was surprised that it still felt room-temperature, considering her knack for cold, but none the less, the ice ghoul clawed the cardboard packaging open, pulling out the instructions and carefully reading them. If anything, it was a way to calm her nerves as she made her way to the bathroom, only now pulling out her phone to check her iCoffin.

Despite her absence being fairly short, there was a surprising number of messages, from close friends like Frankie to people she barely knew. which she took as a sign that someone had spread something. Scrolling through the messages only revealed less and less people she knew before finally a name she recognized appeared on the screen: Heath Burns.

Actually, in all honesty, she had his name put in as 'Heath' with a heart by it.

None the less, she plopped onto the toilet seat to read his words, though before she could focus on the screen, she was forced to drop the phone as a piercing pain rang from the inside of her chest. She instinctively grasped at where the crystal was as her eyes squinted shut, leaning forward into a position as close to fetal as she could get to sit out the pain.

It didn't last as long as she thought, at least, but the event in general left her even more concerned. Abbey had never been the type of yeti to give in easily to pain. Despite being the youngest and smallest of her siblings, she'd always taken the same amount of beatings and actions as any other and even taken it in the same stride. Even after she's leaned back, breathing deep as she tried to figure everything out and remember the name, she was mildly annoyed. After all, it was _heartburn_.

The yeti woman eventually calmed her nerves and reaches for the pregnancy test again, reading the directions before finally going ahead with it, then taking her phone and heading to her room to lay down for the while the directions dictated. Her phone had been ignored, returning her sights to the situation at hand.

It was as she was laying in the bed, miserably staring at the blue-and-pink diamond pattern adorning her wall, that she heard the door click and the familiar voice of her lover announcing his return.

She rolled over and buried her face in the pillow.


	4. Thankful

Heath had rather messily discarded his jacket (no longer the letterman of Monster High, but instead, plain black) and bag onto the couch closest to the door before making his way to the end of the house, glancing through rooms as he went. He stopped upon noticing his housemate sprawled rather unappealingly across the bed, the elemental strode across the room to sit near her, though her remained on his own side for the sake of safety. By safety, he of course means not being frozen to a block of ice. As much as he's gotten used to it, as has Abbey with various flames, it's certainly not pleasant.

Despite keeping his bodily distance, he rested a hand on her shoulder, eliciting a slight shift and a turn of Abbey's head towards him. Her eyes were still half lidded, almost tired, and clearly displayed her extreme bother through the situation. He offered a smile, as charming or comforting as he could be (Abbey had never mastered which was which) as he probed for her emotions, aware she'd never been the type to specifically complain about her aches and pains, emotional or physical.

"How're things heating up?" He asked, and she groaned slightly and allowed her eyes to close.

"You seem a little burnt out. What's torchin' your mind?" He added, after waiting a moment of letting her be.

Abbey shifted again, this time rolling onto her side to face him, arms crossed over her chest as a sign of discomfort. Thinking over how to word it was annoying and strange, as she'd never felt the need to feel exposed or scared. It was worse that she didn't know what, exactly, she was scared of. It wasn't like if there was a problem, they wouldn't talk over it or he'd be upset. They weren't some immature teenage couple (despite Heath's occasionally actions).

She opened her eyes and took a deep breath, working to explain. "Problems with body have been up. Feel sick since earlier and heart feels like yak is stepping on it. Zombie ghoul suggests pregnancy test, so I wait."

Heath's expression quickly changed to slightly conflicted, then returned to his overly bright smile. "Nothing to worry about yet, right? No use gettin' all blazed up over something that might not be a big deal!"

Truth be told, he did think it was a big deal. After all, fire and ice didn't exactly seem like the best mix of genetics. Apparently, odder things had worked around Salem, he'd found, but that was only a slight boost to his confidence in the fact that they had a choice in this. Her descriptions didn't exactly sound pleasant, and he'd noticed a few other symptoms earlier. It wasn't that he was particularly observant, but more that she seemed to act so out of her element, in her cravings for spicier foods and sudden bursts of raw emotion.

Abbey seemed unhappy with this reply, burying her face in her shoulder. while Heath went ahead to get her one of the insulated blankets and draping it over her carefully. "Try to rest up some and we'll check things out when you get up. Just tell me if you're flaming up again or anything, okay? I'll get you anything you like!"

Abbey nodded slightly in dismissal, though she took the time to reflect on how glad she was that Heath wasn't the irresponsible, high continence, and altogether annoying want-to-be stud she'd met in her first year.


End file.
